"Halloween Carnival!" Brian Whitfield read the ad aloud. It seemed almost too good to be true.
      "Why on earth would anyone have a carnival in October?" his mother asked. "It's too cold."
      "You can't have a Halloween Carnival in July," Brian said.
      "Watch the sarcasm," Brian's father cautioned. He was reading the business section and didn't look up, but added, "It's big business now, you know. Halloween's become the second-biggest cash-cow holiday after Christmas, and spending on Halloween-related goods and entertainment grows every year. There are even a few Halloween Theme-Parks. So why not a Halloween Carnival? It's a good idea."
      "I suppose," Brian's mother said. "After all, there are Christmas Carnivals."
      "Not with rides!" Brian interjected.
      "Sleigh rides," his father offered, somewhat facetiously.
      "It's not the same at all," Brian said. "Look what it says. 'Rides! Games! Shows! Fun!'"
      "And 'Terror! Horror! Fear! Shuddering!'" his father pointed out, with a smile.
      Brian smiled a patient smile. "Yeah, but they don't really mean that. The fear is fake, the screams are fun."
      His father shrugged. "Well, I'm sold."
      "It does sound like fun. We'll have to go early, though, or your sister will miss her bedtime."
      "Mom!" Brian exclaimed. "It doesn't even open 'til dusk!"
      "Daylight savings time, Brian," his father pointed out. "Starts next Sunday. Which means it'll get dark around Five. Should be plenty of time to see everything and still get home early enough."
      "But the Carnival opens on Friday!"
      "Well, we should probably go on Sunday," Brian's mom said, in a cautious tone. "The rowdier element comes out on the weekends."
      "And if it's cool enough we'll go again later in the week. They're here 'til just after Halloween."
      "That'd be great!" Brian almost shouted, noting his father's conspiritorial smile, and deliberately not noting his mother's scowl.
      He was on the phone with Busky within moments after breakfast finished. Busky's family had church on Saturday, of all things, so Brian knew he would be home. He sounded sleepy, but that really wasn't unusual. He woke right up after he heard what Brian had to say.
      "No way!" he almost shouted into the phone. "Wow! That is too cool!"
      "You gotta come with me! It's gonna be great!"
      "I'll have to check with my folks. Wait a minute." There was a pause, and Busky could be heard yelling to his parents, who were presumedly in the kitchen. "Hey Mom! Can I go to the Halloween carnival?" Her answer was inaudible. Busky said a few things after that which Brian couldn't quite make out, then there was a moment's silence, possibly indicating a response from Busky's mother. Then something that he heard led him to expect Busky's voice on his receiver within moments: "I dunno. Let me check."
      Sure enough, there was a clatter as Busky picked up his phone, then Busky's voice. "When are you going?"
      "My parent's are taking me on Sunday night."
      "At night?"
      "Yeah. It doesn't open 'til dusk."
      "Man. That might be a little late."
      "Daylight savings time, dude. It'll be dark by five, we'll be home by nine."
      "Wow! Cool!" Busky set down the phone without another word, which was somewhat impolite but excusable due to his obvious enthusiasm. "It's Sunday night!" he yelled, in the direction (presumedly) of the kitchen.
      The response from the room had a hectoring tone, but Busky responded with the bit about Daylight Savings, though he upped the return time to Ten. This was shrewd, as the response was clear: "Be back by nine." Then, an afterthought: "Are Brian's parents going?"
      Busky's answer contained an implied eye-roll. "Of course!"
      "Just checking. You're too young to be out and about by yourself."
      "No I'm not!" Busky said, but Brian sensed that he said it just quietly enough to avoid its being heard. Both he and Brian knew that Brian's parents would be ditched at the earliest opportunity, and both sets of parents were aware of this. Busky picked up the phone.
      "Okay, I can go!"
      "Excellent!" Brian answered. "I'm gonna call Stevie."
      "Aww, he's a drag."
      "No he's not. He's just into different stuff."
      "People think he's weird."
      "Lotsa people think you're weird, dude."
      "Lotsa people don't know spit."
      "My point exactly." They both laughed at that; the phrase had become popular due to a series of commercials featuring a skateboarding teen hyping an unpalatable soft drink.
      "All right, give Stevie a call. He's not so bad."
      "Yeah, and he knows a lot about Halloweeny stuff."
      "Really?"
      "Yeah, he's all into horror movies and stuff. Even the old-time ones, like Halloween and Poltergeist."
      "Yeah? Does he have any cool ones on disc?"
      "Prob'ly. I think his dad collects that stuff."
      "Wow. We should all get together like that Sunday and watch gory movies until it's time to go to the carnival. That'd be cool!"
      "Yeah!" Brian hadn't thought about it, but now that Busky mentioned it he realized that they could really make a weekend of it. Busky always came through with great ideas like that; Brian's gift was to expand on them. "We could even have a sleepover Saturday. Stay up late, get really scared!"
      "Wow! That'd rock!"
      "I'm gonna give him a call. Man, get psyched. This is gonna be the scariest Halloween ever!"
      "So call!"
      "I'm going to!"
      "Well, do it!"
      "Hang up!"
      "You hang up!"
      "No, you hang up!"
      Eventually, someone did.